Present Status and Economics of Organic Farming in the District of Udham Singh Nagar in Uttaranchal

The study has reported the present scenario about adoption and awareness of organic farming as well as costs and returns of major crops grown under organic farming vis-à-vis non-organic farming on a sample of 90 farmers (45 organic and 45 non-organic) selected from the Kashipur block of Udham Singh Nagar district of Uttaranchal during the year 2004- 05. The study has revealed a fairly good adoption status with 36.51 per cent of sample farmers engaged in organic farming. Cost of cultivation for organic paddy over cost A1 and cost C3 has been found as Rs 18786/ha and Rs 31651/ha and for non-organic paddy as Rs 19106/ha and Rs 35947/ ha. The yields from organic and non-organic paddy have been found as 26.86 q/ha and 32.74 q/ha, respectively. However, farmers could realize relatively higher prices for organic (Rs 1380/q) than non-organic (Rs1161/ q) paddy. Net returns over cost A1 and cost C3 from organic and nonorganic paddy have been found as Rs 20144/ha and Rs 7279/ha and Rs 21323/ha and Rs 4483/ha, respectively. For organic and non-organic wheat, cost over A1 and C3 have been recorded as Rs 8653/ha and 17752/ha and Rs 12220/ha and Rs 22932/ha, respectively. The wheat yield has been found to be lower for organic (19.85 q/ha) than non-organic (28.12 q/ha) farming. The difference between prices of organic (Rs 875.16 /q) and nonorganic (Rs 780.24 /q) wheat has not been much wide. Hence, organic paddy has been found more profitable than organic wheat. The study has suggested organization of training programmes to generate awareness regarding organic farming. Lack of inputs being a general problem among producers, government should ensure timely delivery of quality inputs at reasonable costs. Also, to encourage organic farming, market support system need be strengthened.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Multi-environment analysis of grain quality traits in recombinant inbred lines of a biparental cross in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

A set of 286 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) along with the parents and a popular wheat variety in India were grown for two consecutive years at three locations belonging to the two major wheat growing zones of India and evaluated for four grain quality traits. Rare recombinants with high trait value appeared for protein content (PC), thousand-kernel weight (TKW), sedimentation value (SV), and kernel hardness (KH). The magnitude of environmental effects was more pronounced than genotypic effects and genotype-environment interaction (GEI). The cumulative contribution of environment and GEI components to the total variance was highest in the expression of PC followed by TKW, SV, and KH. The top five percent (14 RILs) of genotypes with high trait value were subjected to Eberhart and Russell (1966) (ER), genotype and genotype-environment (GGE) and additive main effects and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) stability models. Five RILs were identified as stable in all the three stability models. RIL61 with 38.8%, RIL101 with 8.9%, RIL226 with 26.1% superiority over check variety were the most stable genotypes in all the three stability models for PC, TKW and KH, respectively. RIL113 was found to be stable genotype in ER and GGE models, whereas, RIL231 was the most stable genotype in AMMI and GGE models in the expression of SV. These common stable genotypes with high trait value identified through ER, AMMI and GGE models could be potential donors in active breeding programs to develop high yielding wheat varieties with improved PC, TKW, SV and KH

Achievements and prospects of grass pea ( Lathyrus sativus L.) improvement for sustainable food production

Grass pea offers an attractive choice for sustainable food production, owing to its intrinsic properties including limited water requirement and drought tolerance. However, low productivity and the presence of a neurotoxin (ODAP) have posed major obstacles to its genetic improvement. Also, biotechnological investments remain limited and the genome is complex and not well understood. Strategies that allow identification of genotypes with reduced ODAP content, coupling of low ODAP content with enhanced yield, and effective seed detoxification methods merit immediate attention. Breeder-friendly genomic tools are being increasingly made available to improve the efficiency of breeding protocols. To this end, the application of next-generation sequencing has provided a means of leveraging the repertoire of genomic resources for this somewhat neglected crop. In this review, we describe progress achieved in Lathyrus genetic improvement. We also explore potential opportunities in Lathyrus research and identify urgent research needs

Pharmacological In vivo test to evaluate the antidepressant activity of polyherbal formulation

The antidepressant effects of the polyherbal formulation (PF) (contain four extracts of medicinal plants namely: Nyctanthes arbortristis, Hippophae salcifolia, Ocimum tenuiflorum and Withania somnifera ) was examined by evaluating the extent of reduction of behavioural alterations and neurotransmitter in the rats stressed by forced swim test (FST). In the present study, compared with the model control group (FST), the altered behavioural parameters were attenuated significantly (P < 0.05) in the group treated with the PF (100, 200 and 400 mg•kg−1), comparable with the standard drug treated group, Sertraline (10mg•kg−1). The PF and Sertraline significantly (P < 0.05) increased the level of the neurotransmitter such as serotonin, dopamine, acetylcholine and noradrenalin whereas decreased the level of monoamine oxidase along with oxidant in the brain of the stressed rats. PF and Sertraline were also involved in the reduced oxidant and generated antioxidant in the stressed rats. The results indicated that polyherbal formulation exhibited significant antidepressant activity, as indicated by its ability to decrease force swim stress, induced immobility time in rats as well as restoring the biogenic amines to normal level that were altered by the swim induced stress in whole rat brain. Therefore, PF can be a potential candidate for treatment of depression as well as a potent antidepressant. However, further studies are required to substantiate the same

A New Class of Inhomogeneous String Cosmological Models in General Relativity

A new class of solutions of Einstein field equations has been investigated for inhomogeneous cylindrically symmetric space-time with string source. To get the deterministic solution, it has been assumed that the expansion ($\theta$) in the model is proportional to the eigen value $\sigma^{1}_{1}$ of the shear tensor $\sigma^{i}_{j}$. Certain physical and geometric properties of the models are also discussed.Comment: 12 pages, no figure. Submitted to Astrophys. Space Sci. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:0705.090

Parametric vis-a-vis non parametric measures describing G x E interactions for salt salinity tolerant barley genotypes in multi-environment trials

GxE interaction to know adaptability of 19 salt salinity tolerant barley genotypes was studied by parametric and non-parametric measures. Genotypes KB1516, RD2907 and RD2794 showed minimum environmental variance over different environments. Superiority index identified genotypes RD2907 and NDB1445 with lowest value accompanied with higher. Wricke’s measure exhibited lower values of DWRB168,  DWRB165 and NDB1445. Higher values of GAI showed consistent performance of RD2907, NDB1445 and RD2552. Non-parametric measures Si(1), Si(3) and Si(6) the considered DWRB165 and DWRB168  as desirable genotypes. Thennarasu’s first measure NPi(1) found DWRB168 and NDB1445 as desirable adaptable and KB1546, RD2907 and NDB1173 were unstable genotypes. Wricke’s parameter was positively correlated with NPi(1), NPi(3) and Kang. GAI had significant positive with Pi and Kang while negative with Si(6), NPi(2) & NPi(4). Worth to mention the negative association of  Pi with Si(6), NPi(2), NPi(4). Non parametric measures Si (3) Si (6) NPi (2) & NPi (4) clubbed together while Kang, Wi 2, s2i ,Si (1),Si (2) ,NPi (1) & NPi (3)  joined in another cluster.  Left over parametric measures were grouped in two separate clusters i.e. (bi, S2xi ,CVi),(Yield, GAI Pi) respectively.  Biplot analysis based on first two principal components showed three groups among the measures

Development of a Polymerase Chain Reaction Assay for Detection of Burkholderia mallei, a Potent Biological Warfare Agent

Burkholderia mallei is the etiological agent of glanders, primarily a disease of equines. B. mallei is closely related to B. pseudomallei, the causative agent of melioidosis. Therefore, detection of B. mallei and its differentiation from B. pseudomallei, has always been troublesome. In present investigation, a B. mallei specific DNA sequence was identified by performing BLASTn search using ~3000 ORFs of B. mallei NCTC 10229. A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay with internal amplification control (IAC) was developed for detection of B. mallei and its differentiation from B. pseudomallei. The PCR assay could amplify a specific 224-bp fragment from all the six B. mallei strains used in the study, whereas other closely related organisms were tested negative. The detection limit of the assay was found to be 10 pg of purified DNA of B. mallei. Incorporation of IAC in the assay makes the results reliable as false negative results which may arise due to presence of PCR inhibitors, can be avoided. For validation, the assay was tested on tap water, Bengal gram and grass artificially spiked with B. mallei. The developed assay can be used as a simple and rapid tool for detection of B. mallei

Bulk Viscous LRS Biachi-I Universe with variable GG and decaying Λ\Lambda

The present study deals with spatially homogeneous and totally anisotropic locally rotationally symmetric (LRS) Bianchi type I cosmological model with variable $G$ and $\Lambda$ in presence of imperfect fluid. To get the deterministic model of Universe, we assume that the expansion $(\theta)$ in the model is proportional to shear $(\sigma)$. This condition leads to $A=\ell B^{n}$, where $A$,\;$B$ are metric potential. The cosmological constant $\Lambda$ is found to be decreasing function of time and it approaches a small positive value at late time which is supported by recent Supernovae Ia (SN Ia) observations. Also it is evident that the distance modulus curve of derived model matches with observations perfectly.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures and 1 table, Accepted for publication in Astrophysics and Space Scienc